M T Ciceronis Brutus, seu de claris Oratoribus, Liber.

BEAUTIFULLY PRINTED BY JEAN LOYS

Loys' caduceus device with initials 'I L' in woodcut on title page.

4to (210 x 150mm). 108, [4 (blank)]pp. Eighteenth century polished calf, upper and lower boards with simple gilt fillet, spine gilt in compartments with five raised bands, lacking title label, some lettering visible, marbled endpapers, red speckled edges (minor scuffs and scratches to boards, upper portion of lower board sunned). 

Paris: Jean Loys de Thielt, 

A handsome copy, beautifully printed, of Cicero's study of Roman oratory, from the press of Jean Loys (d.1547). Loys' works are uncommon, and the present volume is very rare; we have found only two other copies of this work outside Europe, both at Oxford. 

Originally from Tielt in Flanders, Loys worked as a corrector and redactor in the atelier of Josse Bade from around 1527 - his earliest known work in this capacity was in November of that year, on the index of Bade's edition of Priscian. Praised by Bade for the quality of his work, it was in this environment that Loys learned about 'presses, type, paper, textual exegesis and the erudition required to be a humanist printer' (Imprimeurs, p.1). Loys married into Bade's family; his wife's brother was married to the older printer's daughter. The first work with Loys' own imprint, an edition of Xenophon in 1535, marked the beginning of a prolific career - on his own, and in partnership with the leading Parisian printers of the period - printing and selling almost 400 editions. One of the types used here (R cap 3.5) can be attributed to Garamond; another can be identified in work from the presses of Conrad Néobar.

The present work is one of seven different, stand-alone Ciceronian texts - all slim copies, intended for use by students - printed by Loys in 1546. The commentaries by Pietro Vettori and Joachim Camerarius can be found at the end of the volume. 

Clean copy, in excellent condition. 

Provenance: 1. Exlibris of Thomas Worsley (1710-1778), Hovingham Hall; from 1760 Surveyor General of his Majesty's works. A close friend of the royal family, he reputedly taught George III to ride. The house at Hovingham he designed himself, as an architecture enthusiast; he also built a library of classical and scientific texts. 2. Exlibris of Paul Waterhouse (1861-1924), architect and designer, and wife Lucy.

Renouard, Imprimeurs et libraires parisiens: Jean Loys, II. 354. Not in Adams, Schweiger, BMSTC. 

OCLC: UK: Oxford only..

Stock Code: 247379